POEM OF THE NIGHT
The streets are gleaming tonight
as if a million stars were brought to earth
flattened into urban mirrors
under lamp posts reflecting
an empty nothingness.
–
It is a dull mid-winter night
straining towards spring
with all intention of leaching
the dying season’s
last insult, unleashing it
upon mankind’s discomfort
one more time.
–
–“A foggy day in London town”
Is what I think when I look down
this cotton-wool streetscape
but that has tune and purpose
and this muted stillness has none.
–
The rain left a muffling fog
mercifully erasing stark bones
of tree limbs reaching to the sky
black beggars on seasonal parade.
–
Yet,
there is a strange beauty to the night,
transforming what was common,
dissolving borders, barriers, dimensions,
making a mirage, an alien oasis.
–
Heavy mists swirl around the ground
lift past the unfocused light
combine with the creeping gloom
and turn a hand to pale mystery.
–
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2014
from “Pitcher of Moon”, 2014
Tags: "Pitcher of Moon", "Poem of the Night", Createspace, Jane Kohut-Bartels, Lady Nyo, poetry, Winter
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January 21, 2014 at 1:25 pm
I love the versatility in your writing. When you write of landscapes and nature to city landscape and then changing your voice to one of a man’s. This has to be one of my favourites. I grew up in a city and the night steals the boundaries. And I love how that ties into a mystery – even a crime. xxTR
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January 21, 2014 at 2:07 pm
Oh! “the night steals the boundaries”…Oh, that is Perfect, TR! Poetry in motion there. That births another poem I think!
I like that one, too. I wrote it looking outside at a rainy mid winter street…rather high up in the second story. It just fell together, and I think wen we allow ourselves to just…well, glaze over? LOL! we can create poetry better.
Night IS mystery….and most crimes statistically, are done in the cover of night…you got that right!
Thank you, TR….for your beautiful comment….it stirs the poet in me, and obviously …in you!
Hugs!
Jane
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January 22, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Thank you for sharing when and where, yes, that is beautiful to gaze over.
I recently spent a while getting over jet lag when I was up in the middle of the night and I used to work the graveyard shift. I used to hate the night but as time went on the night as brought be a lot of self reflection and peace. There is this discomfort with it, maybe natural discomfort. I like how the serenity comes through your words and not only the discomfort.
Looking forward to the next one. 🙂
xx TR
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January 22, 2014 at 3:29 pm
I love your comments, TR. They start at the personal and that is what poetry/writing is all about to me…to learn about others, their sentiments, how things I write affect them. This is a true priviledge for me.
The night: well, I think it is primorial. It is this fear of the darkness, the inability for us to know where we are in the total darkness…the inability of defense, and of course, blindness. But I think of it as a cocoon. It wraps us with serenity and peace..and yes, as you say, the time for a deeper self-reflection. The discomfort I think comes from our natural fear of not being in control of our environment.
And when we have had such little control in our lives, this heightens our fear.
When we turn the night into a place where we are ‘safe’ we can truly benefit from its serenity.
Thank you so much, TR, for reading and your insightful comment.
Hugs, Jane
PS. I used to work the night shift many years ago….and it was trying and exhausting…until you claim what you can of it.
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